Rail anchors



May 14, 1957 c, FlNcH 2,792,182

RAIL ANCHORS Filed Aug, 22, 1955 INVEN TOR. Charles A finch BY57 ZKQJZZ A T T ORA [Y6 United States Paten'tQ RAIL AN CHORS Charles A. Finch, Girard, Pa., 'assignor to TrnejTemper Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a. corporation of Ohio Application August22, 1955, Serial N::529,'666

'4 Claims. (Cl.-238.-327) ..My .invention relates to rail anchorsandrelates. more particularly to rail anchoring devices of .thetypereferred to as two piece rail anchors, one element being.a.relatively rigid channel shaped clamp. and theother element being aspring retaining member.

.Previousrail anchors ofthe aforesaid type with which -I am familiar havebeensubjectto.over=driving ofthe retaining element wherefor the .anchoris not reliablyrsecured in its normal desiredapplied position.

Further, previous spring.retainingelements of rail-anchors of the prior. art have been subject to excessive reactive rebound requiring theanchorto :be'driven ontorthe rail base with heavy blows.

It is therefore an object of my invention toprovidean improved rail anchor .of the rcferredto two piece; type ..the. spring to any=appreciable extent and--the anchor: will resist spring distortion and have ,good, holdingtfpower.

Another object of my .invention is=toxprovidetsa rail anchor whichwill bereasy'to apply, eflicient in:nse,*;and

inexpensive to manufacture.

surfaces 9 and of the same rail base flange 11.

The-web 5 of the clamp channel member 1 preferably extends for the greater part of itsextent in a direction which is generally at right angles to the side arms 3 and 4 and the plane of the lower jaws 8 is disposed at an angle 10 of 45 to the plane of the greater part of the upper surface? ofthe web 5 whereby, when the clamp member 1 is operatively secured to a rail base flange with "the jaws 7 andSembracing thetop and bottom surfaces to-said "fiange,'said-web'5 will be disposed at an angle of- 45 to the planeof the rail base bottom which coincides with the plane ofthe lower jaws 8 in engagement therewith.

'Theclamp member 1, when in operative position on the"railbase,'will cause the plane of the upper surface "ofthe web to'be forwardly and upwardly inclined, as

best "shown in Fig. l, with respect to said rail base bottomanda projection of said plane will preferably inter- "sectthe' rail base bottom near its middle at a point x "which is "directly below the rail web12.

'T he arms 3 and 4 of the clamp'memberl are further provided'with protuberances 13 and 14 at correspond- Other objects of-myinventioniand thecinvent-ionritself 4 will become .more readily apparent. 'to:.thoseskilled::-in the art to which my invention appertains and including those skilled in rail maintenance, by reference to the accompanyingdrawings of an embodimentlof my invention, and to the accompanying specification describing the said embodiment.

In the drawings:

Fig. l'is a side elevationatvi'ew' of 'an embodiment. of my invention'as 'applied"to"a" rail base, the rail being shown in transverse sectional view and dotted lines indicating portions of the retaining element lying beneath one of the arms of the rail clamping member;

Fig. 2 is a rear view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the clamping member.

Referring now to the drawings illustrating an embodiment of my invention, in all of which like parts are designated by like reference characters, the rail anchor therof may generally be characterized as being of the twopiece type, and comprises two parts which are adapted to be co-operatively interlocked on a rail base, the rail gripping clamp member 1 and a retaining bar 20, said parts being illustrated in operative interlocked relation with the rail base in Fig. l.

The clamp member 1 is of generally U-shaped channel form and comprises upstanding arms 3 and 4, and a ing portions ,adjacentthe rear lower edges thereof, said protuberances constituting the nearest relative approach *of said arms. Said'armsS and 4 are further provided with 'protuberances 15' and 16 at corresponding portions -spaced forwardly oftherear edges of the said armsan'd "saidprotuberances are disposed rearwardly and upwardlytof arid-in a substantially parallel plane to the plane of the lower jaw 8 of the said arms.

-''It' is to be noted that the protuberances,13,14, 15 and "16 are preferably provided by indenturing the arms3 and 4-'an'd said indenturing operation is preferably performed at the time of making the notches 6.

The retainingelement 20, preferably'formedof a fiat blank of resilient spring steel, is bent flatwise intermediate its-ends to'provide a pair of slightly forwardly convergent respectively upper and lowerarms21 andj22' anda loop connector portion 23, the upper arm' 21 being, longer, and-the 'shOrter lower arm 22 terminatinggforwardly in an upturned hooklike portion 24, whose'upper .edge is 5 "close to but initially interspaced from the. relatively superjpo'sedlowersurface of a medial'portion'of'the longer arm 21. "The-longer-arm 21 also terminates inan'upturned re'tainer hook 25.

The-element 20 as best illustrated in..Unite'd"States Let- "ters PatentNo.'2,551,508, dated'Mayl, 1951, is pro- 'vidd with' itslong arm21 generally nearly straight'downwardly 'inclined in its rearmost, portion and'its short arm 22 =nea'rly straight throughout though. upwardly inclined 'Zbetweenfthe-C-shaped loop 23'and the'base of its hook "-24. l3uring=andafter driving operations, ashereinafter more fully described; the" arms'21 and"22become slightly more relatively convergent.

To assemble the clamp 1 and spring retaining bar 20, the rearmost or looped portion 23 of the element 20 is placed between the clamp arms 3 and 4 with the long arm 21 disposed above the opposing protuberances 15 and 16 of said arms and the short arm 22 disposed above the opposing protuberances 13 and 14, said protuberances being thus caused to extend slightly inwardly of the lateral edges of the loop.

When so placed the lateral edges of the spring retainer element 20 are wedgingly engaged by the rearmost surfaces of the clamp arms which thus are resiliently slightly spread further apart and thereafter reac-tively grip said retainer spring 20 on a transverse swinging axis.

It will thus be obvious, referring to Figs. 1 and 3 that additional spring support is provided for the anchor while in use by the protuberances, limiting the expansion 3 of the spring loop whereby the spring is strengthened against bending, which might be occasioned by downward blows such as those used during an improper application, and excessive rebound is prevented permitting the anchor to be driven with relatively lighter blows than normally employed with anchors of the prior art.

Although I have described my invention in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that numerous and extensive departures may be made therefrom without, however, departing from the spirit of my invention and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A two-piece rail anchor of the type comprising a channel-shaped clamp having a pair of laterally interspaced upstanding arms rearwardly and upwardly notched from their forward edges to afford corresponding pairs of upper and lower rail base flange engaging jaws and an intermediate web inter-connecting the lower ends of the arms, and a spring retainer formed of bar steel, which is intermediately bent to afford superposed relatively longer upper, and shorter lower spring arms, each of said arms terminating in an upturned hook, said retainer having a relatively rearwardly disposed substantial portion of the length ofits said upper arm, and the forward portion of the length of its lower arm which constitutes the greater portion of its entire length being disposable between said clamp arms, with the bottom surface of the hooked end of the lower arm engageable with a relatively forwardly disposed portion of the upper surface of said clamp web, and with the relatively forward portion of the long spring arm extending forwardly beyond those portions of the clamp arms which extend betweensaid web and the foremost portions of the said clamp jaws, said clamp and retainer members adapted for simultaneous application to a rail base from one sidethereof with the proximate base flange embraced by said upper and lower jaws and the upturned hook of the upper retainer arm in retaining engagement with the remote side edge of said base, opposing protuberances disposed on the said upstanding arms of the clamp adapted to position the upper and lower arms of said retainer within said clamp, the upper arm of the retainer being clamped between an uppermost protuberance in the clamp arm and the lowermost portion of the rail base, said uppermost protuberance being disposed in operative position in substantially parallel but spaced relation to said base.

2. A two-piece rail anchor comprising a channel-shaped clamp having its upstanding arms provided with rearwardly and upwardly disposed notches in their forward edges to afford corresponding pairs of upper and-lower rail base engaging jaws and provided with protuberances extending inwardly and upwardly of said arms, an uppermost one of said protuberances on either arm disposed rearwardly in generally spaced parallel relationship with said notch in said arm in its pre-assembled form and a lowermost of said protuberances on either arm being provided on the rearward edge of each arm, said lower most protuberance being disposed in generally spaced 4 parallel relationship to the web of said channel shaped clamp, and a spring retainer which is intermediately bent to afford a superposed relatively longer upper and a lower shorter spring arm with the rear portions of said arms integrally joined by a substantially C-shaped loop portion, the loop portion being placed between the clamp arms with the longer arm of the retainer disposed above the uppermost protuberances of the clamp and the relatively shorter arm disposed above the lowermost protuberances of the clamp, said anchor clamp and retainer concurrently being applied to a rail base by the effect of driving force directed against the rear surface of said retainer loop portion after said clamp jaws are placed in embracing relation to a rail base flange, said protuberances limiting the expansion of the said spring loop portion during driving.

3. A two-piece rail anchor of the type claimed in claim 2 in which the oppositely disposed lowermost protuberances extend inwardly a greater distance from the clamp arms and are relatively closer than said uppermost protuberances.

4. A two-piece rail anchor comprising a channel-shaped clamp having its upstanding arms provided with rearwardly and upwardly disposed notches in their forward edges to afford corresponding pairs of upper and lower rail base engaging jaws and provided with protuberances extending inwardly and upwardly of said arms, an uppermost one of said protuberances on either arm disposed relationship to the web of said channel-shaped clamp,

and a spring retainer which is intermediately bent to afford a superposed relatively longer upper and a lower shorter spring arm with the rear portions of said arms integrally joined by a substantially C-shaped loop portion, the loop portion being placed between the clamp arms with the longer arm of the retainer disposed above the uppermost protuberances of the clamp and the relatively shorter arm disposed above the lowermost protuberances of the clamp, said anchor clamp and retainer concurrently being applied to a rail base by the eflect of driving force directed against the rear surface of said retainer loop portion after said clamp jaws are placed in embracing relation to a rail base flange, the lateral edges of the retainer element being wedgingly engaged by the rearmost surfaces of the clamp arms to cause said arms "to reactively grip said retainer on a transverse swinging 1,777,840 Fifield Oct. 7, 1930 2,036,031 Fifield Mar. 31, 1936 2,551,508 Skell May 1, 1951 

